Lowell man sent for competency evaluation

LOWELL -- A city man charged with mayhem for allegedly gouging out another man's eye has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation.

In Lowell Superior Court this week, Judge Heidi Brieger ordered Christopher Owen, 33, of 253 Riverside St., unit 3, to undergo an evaluation. Owen has pleaded not guilty to mayhem, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, and escape from a municipal lockup.

Owen's next court date is April 9 for a status conference.

Lowell police were dispatched to 412 Fletcher St., at 11:24 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2011, for a report of a housebreak in progress. They found the victim sitting on a front porch with his hand over his eye, and saw the wound when the man moved his hand.

The man told police that Christopher Owen broke in, attacked him, knocked him backward into a table, and then pounced as he bled from the back of his head and plunged a thumb into his eye.

Police said Owen broke into the 412 Fletcher St. home, attacked the 58-year-old man, who police declined to identify, and fled only when a witness heard the attack and intervened.

Officers were told that Owen fled toward the North Common, and they arrested him there a short time later.

Police said the victim and Owen were known to each other via Tewksbury Hospital, where the victim is employed.

Police also allege that when Owen was being arraigned the next day, he sprinted away from an officer as he was being taken to Lowell District Court for arraignment yesterday about 3 p.

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m. That officer quickly caught up with Owen and took him back into custody.

Owen was evaluated at a hospital after that incident, so he was not arraigned yesterday. He was being held without bail last night pending arraignment today in Lowell District Court.

Owen has a history of arrests in Lowell. Arrest logs published in The Sun indicate he was arrested in 2003 for assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to maim, threatening to kill, and assault and battery.

Arrest logs indicate he was arrested in January 2008 for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a retarded person, and again in June 2008 for trespassing.

On Sept. 6, 2009, Owen was arrested on Varney Street after police said he broke into a home at 16 Varney St., and struck a resident of that home with a shovel. The resident fought back, bloodying Owen's mouth before police arrived. When Owen was arraigned, prosecutors said Owen told police he was "the son of God." Owen was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.

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